Completed the sale of my flat in Highgate last March but the buyer keeps e-mailing daily complaining that their solicitor is waiting to hear from mylawyer. What should have happened following completion?

Following your house sale your conveyancer should send the transfer documentation and all of the paperwork to the buyer’s solicitors. If applicable, your solicitor must also evidence that the mortgage has been redeemed to the buyers lawyers. There are no post completion requirements just for conveyancing in Highgate.

Is it possible to transfer to a new conveyancer as I have to find one who is on the Alliance & Leicester conveyancing panel. I instructed a local conveyancing solicitor in Highgate round the corner but he is not accepted by Alliance & Leicester

It would be our pleasure to help you find a conveyancing solicitor in Highgate on the Alliance & Leicester panel. Please note that the conveyancers that we list do not pay us commission if you instruct them and are regulated by the SRA who oversee all conveyancing solicitors in Highgate. In utilising the find a conveyancing solicitor tool on this site, you can scrutinise charges for conveyancing solicitors in Highgate and throughout England and Wales.

We're first time buyers - had an offer accepted, but the property agent told us that the seller will only move forward if we appoint their recommended lawyers as they are insisting on a ‘quick sale’. Our preferred option is to instruct a high street conveyancer used to conveyancing in Highgate

We suspect that the owner is unaware of this ultimatum. Should the seller desire ‘a quick sale', alienating a motivated buyer is is going to put the whole deal at risk. Speak to the owners direct and make sure they comprehend that (a)you are serious purchasers (b)you are ready to go, with mortgage lined up © you do not need to sell (d) you intend to proceed fast (e)but you will continue to use your own,trusted Highgate conveyancing solicitors - not the ones that will provide the negotiator at the agency a commission or meet his conveyancing figures demanded by head office.

I work for a long established estate agency in Highgate where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Highgate conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Following years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Highgate. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Highgate conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Highgate flat is Flat 2A 19 Shepherds Hill in June 2014. The tribunal concluded in accordance with section 48 and schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act (the 1993 Act) that the premium payable in respect of the grant of a new lease for the Flat be £24,303 (twenty four thousand three hundred and three pounds) This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 67.85 years.

I own a leasehold flat in Highgate. Conveyancing was finalised in last year. I have heard that I should not allow the lease length get too short. Why is that a problem?

Highgate domestic long term leases are for a fixed period - usually ninety nine years when they commenced. However many flats in Highgate were built or converted 20 or more years ago and so such leases now have less than eighty years unexpired. This may seem like a long time however Banks, Building Societies and other mortgage lenders generally need leases to have at least 75 years unexpired to be mortgageable. This means that when you come to sell the property you will need to extend the term of your lease if you are approaching eighty years. To increase the saleability of your property you should be considering whether to extend your lease well in advance of selling the property. There are also significant benefits to taking action before the lease reaches even eighty years as when the lease is less than 80 years the amount to be paid to extend starts to get a lot more expensive.